Too Good to Go is my new favourite app so I thought I’d share with you how it works and why I love it so much. I’m also going to share a couple of my recent bargains so I can give you an idea of what you get in your Magic Bag.
First of all, have you heard of Too Good to Go? I only discovered it a couple of months ago and even then only started using it myself in the last month or so I’m guessing it’ll be new to some of you guys too.
It’s basically a free app that allows you to buy unsold food from local shops, cafes, bakeries, and restaurants in your local area at the end of each day to save it from being thrown away. It’s pretty much a win, win situation as you get great food at reduced prices and do some good for the world at the same time as you’re saving food from being wasted.
You’re also helping a local business because they’re selling food that they might usually waste – even if it’s at a lower price than they’d usually sell it for, it’s still better than nothing.
There are loads of nationwide chains that are involved including Morrisons, Leon, M&S, Budgens, Greggs, Costa Coffee, Yo Sushi, Spar, Caffe Nero as well as many, many more. Lots of smaller local eateries and shops are on there too which I try to look for to support them through the difficult period they’re no doubt going through now whilst getting some great deals for myself.
Once you’ve signed up on the app then you can set your location and can search any participating retailers in your area to see if they have any ‘Magic Bags’ available for that day. It does vary for obvious reasons and they go super quickly because of the money you can save. I recommend turning on notifications and setting them up so you get a notification when something is available in your area.
(These aren’t my area by the way – I didn’t want to show my town so I chose Manchester which had a good selection. 😂)
You can’t choose what you get specifically from each retailer – you buy something called a ‘Magic Bag’ which is a random selection of items. The three that I’m sharing below all cost between £3 and £4 with the app telling me that their value was between £8 and £12.
You choose your bag and pay for it on the app using your card, PayPal, or even use Apple Pay and just have to collect your food during the specified time slot (which is shown before you dd your Magic bag to your basket).
Here’s what I got in the three bags I ordered over the weekend…
Magic Bag #1 – Spar
Worth at least £10 / Paid £3.09
Prawn Sandwich £2.99 / Cauliflower Cheese £2.19 /Steak Slice £1.59 / 4 Burgers £3.00 / Manchester Tart £1.25 / Bread £1.15 / Iced buns £1.10 = Actual Value £13.27
Magic Bag #2 – Local Family Run Grocery Shop
Worth £12 / Paid £4.00
Pork Belly slices £4.50 / Smoked haddock fishcakes £2.99 / Pork Sausages £1.89 / Toastie £2.25 / Chicken steaks £2.49 / Melon £1.49 = Actual Value £15.61
Magic Bag #3 – Budgens
Worth £10 / Paid £3.35
This one you’re not even going to believe…
6 packs of cheese £1.69 each / 2 packs of Cumberland Sausage £1.89 each / 2 packs or turkey breast £1 each / 1 pizza £2.00 / 1 packet of crumpets £1 / 1 Cheeseburger £2.00 / 2 packs hoummous £2.50 for two / 8 packs grapes @ 2 for £4 / 6 packs of blackberries @ 2 for £4 / 2 packs blueberries @ 2 for £4 / 1 tuna mayo sandwich £1.50 / 1 ham salad sandwich @2.00 / 3 packs of tropical fruit salad £1 each = Actual Value £59.51
So that last bag was AMAZING value but… who can possibly eat that much fruit? I actually ended up taking most of it to work the next day to share out and lots of the other things went into the freezer.
They were super easy to pick up too – I just went into the shop and told the cashiers that I had a Too good to go order to collect, showed them my phone, and was given the goodies. I did take a bag of my own to pop everything in which made it even easier except for the last place who laughed when he saw my bag and told me not to worry as he’d give me a few extra. 😂
I’m over the moon with the bags to be fair – we paid just over £10 for all three bags and got nearly £90 worth of food. I’ll be honest, lots we gave away, lots went into the freezer and there was some waste from us as I literally had too much fruit to use up before it started to spoil. If I’d been off work Monday then I could have been a bit more creative maybe but I just didn’t have time. There were also a couple of things that we really would never eat – the belly pork slices for example that we tried to give away but couldn’t and the fishcakes that we did find a home for.
I def recommend having a go yourself and seeing what you get in your Magic Bag!
Edited to add that I just got hold of a Costa bag which cost me £3 and I got this little lot and a gingerbread latte cookie too.
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